Tech’s Lax Analysis Raises Questions on His 7,800 Drug Cases

LITTLE FALLS, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey attorney general's office has notified prosecutors that a lab technician failed to properly analyze evidence in a drug case, calling into question more than 7,800 criminal cases he's worked on over the last decade.

Division of Criminal Justice director Elie Honig wrote in a memo last week that Kamal Shah was observed spending insufficient time analyzing a substance to determine if it was marijuana. Honig says Shah recorded an anticipated result without properly conducting the analysis.

Shah worked in the drug unit of the state police's North Regional Laboratory.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office says Shah hasn't been charged. He wouldn't say whether Shah is under criminal investigation.

Shah was suspended without pay in January. He couldn't be reached for comment.